Open mike 07/11/2015

50 comments on “Open mike 07/11/2015 ”

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1. sabine 1

   7 November 2015 at 7:08 am

   fro the Peeps in CHCH, 8 Nov at 7 pm Meeting in regards to Asset Sales.

   https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=824791230963122&set=a.289660677809516.60189.100002967584552&type=3&theater
   (fb John Minto)
   it might be good to show up and make oneself heard.
2. savenz 2

   7 November 2015 at 9:04 am

   Someone posted this yesterday about the crisis in the US. Very interesting. They also talk about how hope keeps people ‘passive’, the MSM, investigative journalists etc. Something for everyone framed in the US context. Interestingly they were saying about record levels of US unemployment which is hidden in statistics and the fear of ‘hackers’ enemy no 1 as being able to show war crimes and so forth by people in power.

   Bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges sits down with Ben Makuch at the Toronto VICE office to discuss what it takes to be a rebel in modern times.
3. RedLogix 3

   7 November 2015 at 9:16 am

   The anti-Corbyn left makes a play:

   http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/06/andrew-fisher-labour-suspends-corbyn-policy-chief
   • Draco T Bastard 3.1

     7 November 2015 at 11:52 am

     Sounds like someone was getting pissed off with the UK Labour-right that was leading them into oblivion and that right-wing are attacking back now that they’ve lost control of Labour.
4. Chooky 4

   7 November 2015 at 9:20 am

   ‘TPP revealed: Pact details ignite debate over privacy, internet freedom, whistleblowers’

   https://www.rt.com/usa/321002-tpp-details-revealed-trade-privacy/

   “With the release of the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a sharpening of arguments on both sides outline a debate about privacy, corporatism, internet freedom and intellectual property, and even the plight of whistleblowers…

   …the agreement requires internet service providers to help take down websites that are violating copyright laws, but does not allow the websites to dispute copyright accusations. This potentially opens the door to service providers taking down websites in one country over copyright accusations from a company based in another nation.

   The pact also criminalizes the “unauthorized and willful disclosure of a trade secret including via a computer system.” According to FFTF, this is a clear effort to discourage whistleblowers and journalists from exposing sensitive issues.

   Intellectual property protections in the agreement include biologic drugs – advanced and expensive drugs to manufacture. All countries in the TPP would have to enforce five to eight year minimums of exclusivity, preventing other companies from making cheaper generic forms called biosimilars. The United States protects exclusivity rights for 12 years. Critics say this would drive up the cost of life-saving medicines for developing countries.

   Another concern related to intellectual property is the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) process, which FFTF opposes on principle as an anti-democratic system. Corporations can sue governments under the system if a country’s policies are perceived as cutting in on intellectual property values and profits…
   • Chooky 4.1

     7 November 2015 at 9:41 am

     What now?…More Protests …The TPPA has not been signed …Countries concerned are yet to agree to signing…All the more important that we put the heat on the Labour Party NOT to give agreement to the TPPA!

     ‘EXCLUSIVE: Jane Kelsey – TPPA HAS NOT BEEN SIGNED. Crucial protest on 14 Nov -‘

     http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/11/02/exclusive-jane-kelsey-tppa-has-not-been-signed-crucial-protest-on-14-nov/

     …The truth is that the TPPA can’t be signed for at least another three months. Until then New Zealand has not been committed in any formal legal manner to the political deal. Even then, the country won’t be bound irrevocably to the TPPA for probably another two years.

     This is no time for surrender or fatigue. Other countries are fighting to ensure the political price is too high for their governments to do so and that opposition parties make an uncompromising commitment to reject the still-secret deal. We need to do that here, starting with a mass turnout to the protests around the country, especially in Auckland and Wellington, on Saturday 14 November…
     • Tautoko Mangō Mata 4.1.1

       7 November 2015 at 11:55 am

       Some feedback from the TPP text
       From Australia:
       “What about the claim that “there is explicit recognition that TPP Parties have an inherent right to regulate to protect public welfare, including in the areas of health and the environment”?

       There is mention of a “right to regulate” in the preamble of the whole agreement, but this is not legally enforceable. In the investment chapter itself, a provision indicates that parties can maintain and enforce environmental and health measures that are “otherwise consistent” with the agreement. Translation: environmental and health measures (other than those related to tobacco control) can still be challenged under ISDS.
       http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-06/tienhaara-ttp-investment/6918810

       from US
       “But now, for the first time, financial institutions could make an ISDS claim based on not receiving a “minimum standard of treatment.
       https://theintercept.com/2015/11/06/ttp-trade-pact-would-give-wall-street-a-trump-card-to-block-regulations/

       from Canada
       But critics say that wording may override laws like those in B.C. and Nova Scotia that keep government information such as health data and other personal details on servers within Canada to keep people’s information safe.
       http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/trans-pacific-partnership-details-1.3308248
5. Chooky 5

   7 November 2015 at 9:32 am

   Guy Fawkes Day Protests around the world…Organized by the hacktivist group Anonymous

   ‘2015 Million Mask March: Arrests in London, rush against Monsanto in DC’

   https://www.rt.com/usa/321004-million-mask-march-london-usa/

   “Protesters took to the streets in hundreds of cities around the world for the 2015 Million Mask March on Thursday, with police arresting dozens in London and activists storming the doors of biotech giant Monsanto in Washington, DC.

   Organized by the hacktivist group Anonymous, the event featured thousands of people from around the world donning Guy Fawkes masks and protesting a variety of injustices ranging from inequality and corruption to police brutality and capitalism itself. Protests spanned the globe, with major events taking place in Europe and the United States, as well as Canada and Guatemala….
6. Jan Rivers 6

   7 November 2015 at 9:39 am

   There has been lots on this site to show that people know independent journalism matters. It’s the lifeblood of democracy. That the news is broken can be taken as a given. Scoop Media’s Editor Alastair Thompson has written and answered questions on the Standard about why we need better journalism and where it’s at right now and why.

   It’s not all bad news. As you will have read on this site Scoop’s campaign to ‘take back the news’ is a way to keep independent, public interest journalism alive in New Zealand.

   A few days ago Alastair updated the funding campaign site http://pldg.me/scoop with a call to action. It’s crunch time. To have a fighting chance to save Scoop and survive the crisis the funding campaign needs to find another 600 people who care about independent news and journalism in New Zealand in the next 10 days!

   Can you join me and help get Scoop over the line? In the last 36 hours support has risen from 41% to 48% of the $50,000 goal but the campaign needs more supporters and the message needs to be spread wider.

   Here’s how you can help
   You can become for $16 or more.

   Tell your friends. Check out https://www.facebook.com/ScoopIndependentNews” for material to share.

   If you already use Scoop at work, encourage your employer to subscribe to a licence which will support – they can also do this by way of a pledge (pricing starts at $420)

   Or, if you are really passionate about helping to build the future of news, volunteer to join the Scoop Team and participate directly in the future of Scoop (including a crew of social media amplifiers) at http://takebackthenews.nz/
   Thanks for caring about this, if enough of us do, we can make a real difference
   • weka 6.1

     7 November 2015 at 9:48 am

     I’m glad to see the pledgeme has taken off and I really hope they reach their goal.

     I think there is a problem for Scoop in that its public material is presented in a very complicated way. I want something I can give to my middle class family and friends (the ones with money to donate) who are concerned about the state of the media but aren’t hardcore political types. I asked Alaister in the Q and A to explain Scoop in a few paragraphs and while what he wrote kind of made sense to me it’s not an explanation I can pass on to others.

     I still don’t know exactly what Scoop will do.

     And sorry to be critical, but the messy formatting and unclarity in your comment is another example. Being able to present messages in clear and simple ways seems crucial for a news organisation and it’s a bit of a worry that that’s not happening.
     • Jan Rivers 6.1.1

       7 November 2015 at 12:25 pm

       Thanks Weka.

       I’m a supporter of Scoop and a librarian rather than a journalist. I had a problem with the editing. I got called away before I had finished. Without starting from scratch the main problem is in the sentence that reads

       You can become for $16 or more
       which should have said
       You can become a Scoop member for $16 or more. The link should have taken you to http://pldg.me/Scoop

       I thought that Alastair’s recent update and the video that you get taken to from that link are good resources to understand Scoop’s fundraising. If you let me know what is missing I can try to answer your questions.

       I’m a librarian and for my part Scoop is “Just the News” in the sense of news that can help see justice occur as well as in the sense of being timely and being ‘only the news’. There are no stories based on celebrities, no name calling or personal attacks and no journalists who make themselves ‘the story’. In contrast to other news there are no ‘clickbait’ stories. Scoop collates news from many, many valuable civil society voices who are rarely heard by the mainstream media and presents these alongside news from government and together with business opinion.

       Scoop journalist Robert Kelly has written a great article explaining how Scoop works. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1510/S00062/please-release-me-a-day-in-scoops-inbox.htm which is really illuminating. “We don’t take a position on the releases and we don’t edit them, we present them. We sit at the coal face of public of information and chip, chip, chip away. ” he wrote.

       With greater resources the Scoop Foundation will be seeking to commission more research and more stories. There is no shortage of need there I think you would agree.
       • weka 6.1.1.1

         7 November 2015 at 8:58 pm

         Thanks for that Jan.
7. weka 7

   7 November 2015 at 10:17 am

   7:47 Ivan Lomax – Bridging the Digital Divide

   The 2012 Census revealed that the digital divide is at its widest in the in the Eastern Bay of Plenty where one in three families lack access to the internet. The country’s newest, and possibly smallest, Internet Service Provider, WiFi Connect is doing its best to bridge that divide by offering unlimited broadband for just $40 a month to people in isolated communities like Tokomaru and Tolaga Bays. Ivan Lomax is a co-founder and director of Wifi Connect.

   http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/20151108

   My bold. It’s important to pay attention to the fact that many NZers aren’t online routinely. More and more NZ is assuming that everyone has cheap and easy internet access but this means that the voices not being heard are not even being noticed as absent.
8. Draco T Bastard 8

   7 November 2015 at 11:50 am

   Now this is interesting:

   The honest captions reveal how long she spent creating the shots, how much she was paid to promote products, and just how “incredibly alone” the process made her feel.

   “Without realising, I’ve spent majority of my teenage life being addicted to social media, social approval, social status and my physical appearance. Social media, especially how I used it, isn’t real,” O’Neill wrote on her last Instagram post.

   “It’s a system based on social approval, likes, validation in views, success in followers. It’s perfectly orchestrated self absorbed judgement. I was consumed by it.”

   Will be interesting to see how that goes down and if it changes anything.
9. weka 9

   7 November 2015 at 12:04 pm

   Funny twitter social commentary from the Scots.

   http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukebailey/scottish-twitter-round-2#.nq5XABRoM

   My favourite was #32

   A used tae love Harry potter until JK Rowling donated £1m to the no campaign now a think he’s a specky Tory cunt
   • Adele 9.1

     7 November 2015 at 12:25 pm

     Teenaa koe, Weka

     A hilarious read! 😂
   • Rosemary McDonald 9.2

     7 November 2015 at 8:01 pm

     #27 On The Royal Baby…

     “A ‘souvenir royal pullout’ would have saved us from they two wee drains on the system. “
10. greywarshark 10

    7 November 2015 at 12:58 pm

    I noted this reported on Radionz in Little’s speech. Why is David Cunliffe being blamed for losing good vibes with the Greens?

    A lot of effort has gone into renewing Labour’s relationship with the Green Party, which soured under David Cunliffe’s leadership.
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/288984/labour-conference-%27a-good-test-of-party-members%27
11. greywarshark 11

    7 November 2015 at 1:02 pm

    Also Labour Party President Nigel dispensing advice. One thing he might be concerned about with electorates is too much individual promotion, with Party coming in second-best.

    Labour Party president Nigel Haworth earlier gave the party membership a serve saying it needed to be more disciplined and not focus on trivial matters./i>
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/289093/labour-ditches-old-campaign-policies
12. Tracey 12

    7 November 2015 at 2:06 pm

    Labour must be doing something right cos Slylands is over every conference thread dissecting everything he can, in a negative light.
    • greywarshark 12.1

      7 November 2015 at 8:14 pm

      Tracey noticed that. I made the facetious comment that he must have been let out, and wonder at the truth of that when I see his frantic efforts everywhere.
      • Tracey 12.1.1

        8 November 2015 at 4:34 pm

        It was quite rabid. And on a Saturday too.
13. alwyn 13

    7 November 2015 at 2:33 pm

    Oh dear. Was that really Little on “The Nation” this morning?
    It looked like him but sounded more like a John Clarke performance.
    • Grant 13.1

      7 November 2015 at 2:42 pm

      Just about time to buy a new shipment of ‘SNIDE’ isn’t it Alwyn? You must have just about used up your last consignment by now.
      • Gangnam Style 13.1.1

        7 November 2015 at 4:58 pm

        +100 Grant.
      • alwyn 13.1.2

        7 November 2015 at 5:21 pm

        Were you impressed by his performance?
        Would you seriously suggest he is capable of doing the job of PM?
        Really, truly could you say that?
        I suspect your dyspepsia is due to his display, not to my remarks about it.
        Isn’t there anyone even half competent in the Labour Party?
        • Grant 13.1.2.1

          7 November 2015 at 6:14 pm

          I couldn’t give a rat’s arse about Little or Labour Alwyn. That ship sailed long ago, so no heartburn on my part, I just call it as I see it. Are you offended that I have characterized your tone as snide? Never mind. You set out to annoy and irritate others here so I guess you’ll just have to take the rough with the smooth.
        • Pat 13.1.2.2

          7 November 2015 at 9:54 pm

          if a hair obsessed , incoherent, dissembler can attain a 50% plus approval rating as PM then anyone can do the job
    • North 13.2

      7 November 2015 at 6:35 pm

      Oh whatever ‘Munter’ Trollwyn…….at the very least girls’ ponytails and Richie will be protected from The Gauche Buster.
14. Lanthanide 14

    7 November 2015 at 2:57 pm

    You can’t make this shit up:

    Craig has now admitted he was Mr X, who was quoted in the booklet as describing Craig as “freakish under pressure” and said he had a chance of a comeback.

    “A lot of expletives have been deleted from this dialogue,” the interview begins.

    Craig said he didn’t see any problems with talking about himself in the third person and framing it as an anonymous whistleblower.

    It was a common literary tool to get a message out to readers, he said.

    It even has this little gem:

    Slater disputed Craig’s claim it was a common practice to use fake interviews in publications.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/73727758/exconservative-leader-colin-craig-outed-as-mr-x
    • Cricklewood 14.1

      7 November 2015 at 3:44 pm

      I’m starting to think that he is going to lose a substantial sum of money in the upcoming defamation action headed his way…
    • Tracey 14.2

      8 November 2015 at 4:35 pm

      BIZARRE.. and that he doesnt think it is dishonest… the veneer has slipped
15. ianmac 15

    7 November 2015 at 3:57 pm

    Anyone fear a similar case with TPP?
    “Wellington City Council’s decision to pay its security contractors a living wage is headed to the High Court, and ratepayers could end up paying some of the legal bills.

    The Wellington Chamber of Commerce announced on Friday that it would seek a judicial review of the council’s living wage policy.”

    Well it would be embarrassing to the COC as they would have to follow suit. I bet Joyce is helping the COC bring the case.
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/73778014/wellington-city-council-will-have-to-defend-its-living-wage-policy-in-court
    • alwyn 15.1

      7 November 2015 at 5:32 pm

      “the COC as they would have to follow suit”.
      What do you mean by this? If the COC was to lose the case it wouldn’t mean that all their members would have to pay this “living wage”. At most it could only mean that any business wanting to get Council business might have to pay their own staff involved in carrying out that work that pay rate.
      The Council has no power to set a minimum wage rate. That is a prerogative of Central Government.
      I can’t see how losing the case could force them to pay everyone working in Wellington such a wage.
      Have I misinterpreted what you are proposing?
      • McFlock 15.1.1

        7 November 2015 at 5:53 pm

        I suspect that if all council subcontractors had to pay a living wage, employees of the COC membership would lose quite a lot of gruntles if the COCs didn’t follow suit.

        Otherwise there’s no reason for the COCs to seek the review in the first place.
      • Tracey 15.1.2

        8 November 2015 at 4:36 pm

        But imagine if it did mean that… the risk of losing…with those consequences…. would they still take the case.
        • alwyn 15.1.2.1

          8 November 2015 at 5:06 pm

          It wouldn’t have any legal meaning would it? A Court finding that the Council were entitled to award contracts only to companies who pay the employees involved more than a certain rate wouldn’t force those companies to pay that rate to all their staff would it?
          If they worried that they would have to pay all their staff that rate because it might piss off their other staff who were working on other contracts they might not bid on the Council work at all. Then they might have to lay off staff if they had the work at the moment. It wouldn’t affect total employment of course but it might change the people who did have jobs, just like any company who wins or loses a contract.
          However if the case is not brought, and they decide they will just have to accept the council dictum they are in no different state than having brought the case and losing are they?
          As an aside the bringing of work in-house and paying the people more doesn’t seem to have worked in the case of parking enforcement staff. They did precisely that and then had the higher-paid people showed their thanks by cancelling their own parking infringement tickets. So much for gratitude eh?
          • Tracey 15.1.2.1.1

            8 November 2015 at 5:16 pm

            I was being tongue in cheek. I thought using the word “imagine” was sufficient clue.

            See as you have a bee buzzing. Only the company that wants to pay the living wage need apply for the contract. Others can continue to pay their luxury work car leases on the back of disproportionately low wages.
          • McFlock 15.1.2.1.2

            8 November 2015 at 5:20 pm

            If the case is brought and lost, then the attempted CoC-blockers have sent good money after bad, when their members would be compensated for the hardship of paying a living wage anyway.

            As for your aside, bringing the work inhouse seems to have exposed a flaw in the council audit processes and administration of infringement notices. I’m sure the responsible staff have been disciplined.
    • Petertoo 15.2

      7 November 2015 at 10:48 pm

      Morgan Godfrey hit it on the head on wellington.scoop.co.nz when he tweeted, “I wonder when the Wellington Chamber of Commerce will sue the city council for “ineffective and inefficient” executive-level salaries?”
      • Tracey 15.2.1

        8 November 2015 at 4:37 pm

        Plus 1
16. Chooky 16

    7 November 2015 at 5:39 pm

    ‘Pentagon pushes for cyber weapons capable of real-world killing’

    https://www.rt.com/usa/321116-pentagon-lethal-cyber-weapons/

    “Cyberwarfare may cross over into the real world to harm humans, thanks to an upcoming military contract valued at almost half a billion dollars.

    Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are some of the defense firms competing for an upcoming $460 million US Cyber Command project to give the American military the power to turn an enemy’s critical infrastructure against them with weaponized code, according to Defense One. A 114-page draft of a 5-year contract released on September 30 details a plan to get private companies to support military operations with cyberwarfare.

    The initial work order will support “cyber joint munitions effectiveness” by developing and deploying “cyber weapons” and coordinating with “tool developers” in the spy community, the documents state…

    …US Cyber Command, which was only created in 2009, is in the process of recruiting 6,200 specialists for cyberwarfare teams positioned all around the world. The command’s duty is to prevent foreign hackers from executing attacks on domestic targets, to aid combat troops overseas, and to protect the military’s own networks. By comparison, China is believed to have 100,000 cyber warriors, according to Defense One.
17. Draco T Bastard 17

    7 November 2015 at 7:26 pm

    The Pencilsword: We’re number one!
    • miravox 17.1

      10 November 2015 at 11:06 pm

      Excellent from pencilsword… Sadly.
18. Draco T Bastard 18

    7 November 2015 at 10:33 pm

    Don’t laugh, you still believe in…
    • Pat 18.1

      7 November 2015 at 10:37 pm

      lol….but does anyone really?
      • ianmac 18.1.1

        10 November 2015 at 11:34 am

        Probably no one ever did believe it but it gained a few decades of deflecting the concerns of the masses. And English’s tax cuts for the rich were justified as a sort of trickle down.
        • Pat 18.1.1.1

          10 November 2015 at 10:44 pm

          I guess there are still a few flat earther’s out there…..you don’t really expect them to be making policy however
19. weka 19

    8 November 2015 at 4:49 pm

    “Ehara i te mea ko te hāngūtanga o te wāhine he taonga tuku iho nō tāukiuki, nō ō tātou kuia. E kāo. Māku e kī atu. Ehara tēnei kauhau mō te wāhine e whai mana ana – engari kē ia, ko te mana o te wahine. He mana wāhine! He mana tūturu! Nō mai rā anō. Tai timu, tai pari, e kore e mutu.

    (Do not believe for a moment that a woman’s reticence is a necessary legacy that has been passed down from your Ancient Grandmothers.
    So now I clarify.
    This is not about women in power, but the power in women.
    This is not about feminism but Mana Wahine, women’s inherent power.
    Watch the Tide. It is unstoppable.)”

    Marama Davison explains this part of her maiden speech,

    https://www.facebook.com/marama.davidson/posts/10153427878504261

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_xvve4ccaI (speech)
    • Tracey 19.1

      8 November 2015 at 4:57 pm

      Very pleased to see her there. Her maiden speech has done nothing to make me think she will be anything but passionate and committed to others.

      Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei

      Seek the treasure you value most dearly: if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain

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